Ask HN: How far would you go to stop spam calls?
1. port your number into a developer-controlled service (Twilio is most well-known I think)
2. abandon your voice service (close account, port number away, replace voice SIM with a data-only SIM)
3. download a SIP app on your phone, to make/receive calls while in WiFi/LTE
4. abandon texting mostly (could have a browser UI simply enough, maybe with push notifications, but it's not the texting you're used to, if you use it)
If you are ok with all the above, I've been experimenting with this for months. I have two features that make calling work for me:
- a whitelist of caller IDs that are allowed to cause my phone to ring. My family, friends, etc are on this whitelist.
- a "temporary pass" where I let all calls through for a certain time period. I use this when expecting a call from an unknown caller ID soon (deliveries, uber/lyft, etc).